Week 53: The Faction – Pericles in Libya

In 2018, The Faction began developing a transnational and multilingual production of Pericles in the places where Shakespeare set the play: Greece, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey, working with artists from each country.

However, it soon became clear that it would impossible to physically meet the Libyan artists. Outside the National Theater of Tripoli’s rehearsal room the Libyan government’s armed forces fight General Haftar’s self-proclaimed ‘Libyan national army’ in a new power struggle.

For WEEK 53, The Faction stage a rehearsal room in exile. Mixing documentary, live performance and sound installation, the National Theater of Tripoli’s rehearsal room is recreated.

During the rehearsal the explosions from the front line become audible. Was it a missile strike or a drone attack? How many have been killed? And what does ‘art’ mean in the middle of a real world conflict? You are invited to enter the rehearsal room and find out for yourself.

Director Khalifa Abo Khraisse explains: “You don’t know what’s happening outside. But they don’t know what we’re doing in here either. That’s power.”